It took almost two weeks after his resounding defeat for Gilberto 'Zurdo' Ramírez to break his silence.

Back on November 5 in Abu Dhabi, Ramirez finally stepped in the ring for his mandatory crack at WBA light heavyweight champion Dmitry Bivol.

Bivol, in one of his best career performances, dominated the action and outboxed Ramirez for most of the fight. Ramirez was significantly bigger than Bivol, but his advantage in size made no difference and may have hindered him in the bout - as Bivol was much faster with his hands and his feet.

The scores were 117-111, 117-111 and 118-110 - all in favor of Bivol. 

Ramirez, a former WBO world champion at super middleweight, suffered his first career defeat and must now work his way back to another world title opportunity.

Initially, Ramirez refused to acknowledge the loss and told reporters that he felt that he did enough to win.

After reviewing things, Ramirez has backed away from that position.

"It just wasn't my night, congratulations to the champion," Ramirez said.

"This result has been difficult to accept, but I promise to come back stronger and better. From the bottom of my heart, I sincerely appreciate all of the love and support throughout this journey."

Ramirez's record dropped to 44-1 with 30 wins by knockout.

It remains to be seen if Ramirez is planning to continue at 175-pounds - or if he intends to once again climb up in weight to the cruiserweight limit of 200-pounds.

The world champions at light heavyweight will be tied up for quite some time. Bivol is potentially going to face Canelo Alvarez in a rematch at some point next year, and there is also the possibility of a unification bout with Artur Beterbiev, who holds the WBC, WBA and IBF titles.